“We recognise our responsibility to provide affordable housing contributions, however this has to be provided as part of an economically viable development that is deliverable.

“Councillors and the local community need to be made aware that the council are now forcing a long and expensive planning inquiry which is likely to end up costing taxpayers a significant amount of money.”

Council response

The council spokesperson said that any inquiry would be a result of the appeal launched by Churchill. He added that an inquiry would not necessarily take place, as the appeal could be dealt with at a local hearing.

The spokesperson continued: “No planning decision has been taken by St Edmundsbury Borough Council because Churchill Retirement chose to stop negotiations and has appealed against our non-determination.

“Our duty to residents is to ensure that developments include appropriate numbers of affordable homes and the council’s own independent expert viability assessment disagreed with Churchill’s view.

“The borough’s democratically-approved affordable housing policy is for 30 per cent to be provided by developers – Churchill offered less than 5 per cent.